FAABulous Football Week 13: The League Playoffs Begin
Welcome to Week 13
Congratulations, we did it ya’ll, we finished the FFPC regular season and survived the Week 12 byemagedon. I really enjoyed seeing everyone post their advancing teams in the discord and having people reach out to me throughout the season to ask questions and share how this newsletter helped them or simply that they enjoy reading my work. I am thankful for all y'all in this wonderful niche fantasy community we have made for ourselves.
Now let’s talk about this week, where the wonderful NFL schedule makers in all their infinite wisdom have blessed us with a holiday bonanza full of games starting Thursday and Friday and no teams on bye.
But don’t you worry, because in Week 14 we will face complete chaos with another 6 bye week teams.. Someone make it make sense!
Well one day I promise I am going to write that letter, but in the meantime all we can really do is prepare the best way we know how. We need to make sure we have options set at all the positions and a backup plan in case there are more injuries or unforeseen surprises on the horizon. This game remains so difficult because really anything can happen and there are so many changes, where in two weeks all your plans are rendered useless.
What we can prepare for is to expect the unexpected and one of the best ways to do that is stock your team with an additional defense since they can’t be hurt and then you have options in case we get some poor weather. Picking up an additional kicker is a good idea as well heading into winter, and trying to find some who play a lot of dome games is always a smart strategy.
Now let’s review these playoffs, if you recall the top 4 seeds in the FFPC high stakes tournaments advance to the playoffs Week 13-Week 14.
The top 2 seeds also earn a spot in the sprint that runs Week 15- Week 17. The 3 and 4 seeded team can earn a place in the sprint if they win their league playoffs, so these next two weeks are critical.
When you make waiver bids not only should you be monitoring your own budget and needs, but also that of your competition. If there are no immediate needs for your teams it is perfectly fine to implement some defensive maneuvers, like outbidding your opponent to prevent them from picking up a position of need when you have more money.
Remember, we are playing for some big money here and we spent a lot of money to enter these tournaments so grind those small edges and pay attention, you never know when that small detail will pay off and be the difference between winning and losing.
All right enough small talk, let the league playoffs begin!
All stats and data for this article are pulled from Fantasy Life, PFF, ETR, and Stealing Signals.
A Look Back at Week 12
Week 12 Waiver Wire Wins
When I say “wins” it is in reference to the player(s) won on the waiver wire, not a performance evaluation. Because I am releasing this article after the conclusion of Week 12, many things, in hindsight, may not be a win after all. I include this section not for bragging rights or victory laps but rather to keep myself accountable and demonstrate that I am, in fact, bidding on many of the players I am writing about (for better and worse).
Several of the top waiver options were not available or right for teams’ roster needs. I included these players I did not win any shares of as well ones along with the winning bid range I saw these players go for in other leagues.
Dylan Laube (4 shares)
Winning bid(s): $3, $4, $6, $22
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $134
ARI Def (2 shares)
Winning bid(s): $7, $13
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $4
Gardner Minshew (1 share)
Winning bid(s): $22
Price range won in other leagues: $13- $19
Derek Carr ( 1 share)
Winning bid(s): $1
Price range won in other leagues: $17- $75
Devaughn Vele ( 1 share)
Winning bid(s):$11
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $101
Joshua Palmer (1 share)
Winning bid(s): $1
Chase McLaughlin ( 1 share)
Winning bid(s): $2
Jake Elliot (1 share)
Winning bid(s): $1
Price range won in other leagues: $7-$11
Spencer Shrader (1 share)
Winning bid(s): $1
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $6
Brandon Aubrey (1 share)
Winning bid(s): $20
TB Def (1 share)
Winning bid(s): $17
Price range won in other leagues: $34- $128
TEN Def (1 share)
Winning bid(s): $1
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $51
MIA Def (1 share)
Winning bid(s): $6
BAL Def (1 share)
Winning bid(s): $1
Price range won in other leagues: $18
SEA Def (1 share)
Winning bid(s): $1
Price range won in other leagues: $1
Jameis Winston (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $21
Taysom Hill (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $18- $77
Tommy DeVito (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $2- $66
Bryce Young (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $7
Cooper Rush (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $175
Brandon Allen (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $7- $59
Will Levis (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $39- $132
Trevor Lawrence (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $8- $59
Ameer Abdullah (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $4- $353
Kenneth Gainwell (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $36
Julius Chestnut (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1
Emari Demercado (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $38
Ezekiel Elliott (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $2- $14
Kendre Miller (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1
Tyler Goodson (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1
Zamir White (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1
Marquez Valdez-Scantling (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $5- $112
Kendrick Bourne (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $20
John Metchie (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $3
Kayshon Boutee (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $13- $41
Darius Slayton (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $5
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $92- $264
Brandin Cooks (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $10
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $45
Curtis Samuel (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $24
Adonai Mitchell (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $3
Noah Gray (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $3- $36
AJ Barner (no shares)
:Price range won in other leagues: $1
Luke Schoonmaker (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $2- $101
Chig Okonkwo (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $5
Tyler Higbee (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1
Brevyn Spann-Ford (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $16
Austin Seibert (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $69
Brandon McManus (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $5
Jason Myers (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $85
Chad Ryland (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $2
Joshua Karty (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1
Will Lutz (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $15
Jason Sanders (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $19
Chris Boswell (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $54- $125
LAC Def (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $34
CIN Def (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $24
CHI Def (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $18
CLE Def (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $2- $11
DAL Def (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $4
NYG Def (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $1- $7
PHI Def (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $11
WAS Def (no shares)
Price range won in other leagues: $7- $51
Week 12 Ship Chasing Team Standings
FFPC Main Event Teams
Live A Little (5-7) 8th Place 1646.80 pts
The minisode team had a big win to cap off the end of the regular season, but it was too little, too late. We finally got the Mahomes and Waddle ceiling games we knew were possible. The teams that don’t advance to the playoffs still are alive for the toilet bowl.
Top 2 Win It Win It (5-7) 10th Place 1582.30 pts
This team went hard til the end, but lost this final week despite getting the Bucky Irving breakout we have all been waiting for, as this breakout coincided with some big flops in Brock Bowers, Deebo Samuel, Xavier Worthy, and J.K. Dobbins.
We Just Don’t Know (6-6) 6th Place 1624.55 pts
The stat chasing team was another difficult end to an otherwise fantastic season. This team looked FAABulous on paper, but similar to our best ball teams never could find a strong enough option at RB2 to make a real run this year. The answer to the question of which Denver RB is best is finally answered… none of them.
Tree Branches (8-4) 3rd Place 1669.30 pts
Our team with Davis Mattek lost its Week 12 matchup and fell short in scoring enough points to earn the 2 seed after the Big Dog was outscored by Justice Hill. Now this team must win out to earn its rightful place in the sprint. I feel good about our chances as this is one of the more complete teams in the portfolio, which is a fancy way of saying it has running backs that score points.
Hear Ye Hear Ye (4-8) 10th Place 1557.90 pts
Shawn Siegele decided to end the season with a bang, by putting up a 170.70 point performance on the backs of Bucky Irving, Jordan Addison, Trey McBride, and George Kittle. The team accomplished this feat despite getting less than 2 points from Jaylen Wright at RB2, I love when art imitates life, this could not be a more appropriate finale for the Godfather of zero RB.
@CrakRok3 (10-2) 3rd Place 1713.35 pts
The CrakRok team had some difficult start/sit decisions starting with if we should play Jerry Jeudy in snowmaggedon on Thursday night. We decided to break ties away from that game only to watch Jeudy ball out. Next we had to decide who to sit between Pop Douglas, Rashod Bateman, and Jordan Addision… and of course I chose Addison. The team still scored enough points to win its matchup and would not have been able to move up in seeding despite these decisions. We are now ready to destroy these playoffs, LFG!
Dairy Queen (5-7) 9th Place 1522.65 pts
My beautiful disaster I drafted live in Las Vegas also had a nice final showing to win its Week 12 matchup. This team never had a shot and was riddled with bad injury with a first round Puka Nacua and third round Rashee Rice, while falling victim to the elite TE grenade that is Sam Laporta in round 2. Only to be outdone by scooping up some falling wide receiver value in Dionte Johnson… I think you get the idea.
Cavish (6-6) 2nd Place 1666.10 pts
Finally, I saved the best for last, Cavish is the only team that has already earned a spot in the sprint. This team was a massive sweat heading into Monday night, where by all accounts we were fighting for our playoff life to keep the four seed. We had very rough options at running back, tons of wide receivers on bye, then got hit with a Devonta Smith injury. The guys we had to roll out in a matchup that decided our fate and ability to compete for a million bucks was pretty comical. Anyways, after Sunday night finished there was a team who put up a massive score, and we only had a shot at the 2 seed and 4 seed, which are decided by total points, and now found ourselves trailing behind this dark horse that came from nowhere and teetering on the edge to maintain a miniscule 2 point lead over another team as we were out of players and they had one remaining. And then there was another team also primed to outscore us with Dionte Johnson… it was all very fragile, and frankly grim (I was pretty sure we were screwed). Somehow we threaded one of the thinnest needles you ever saw where one team with Saquon Barkely and Derrick Henry lost to Dicker the Kicker allowing that high scoring team to secure a seed with record instead of points. Next, the Chargers defense actually lost one of the other teams points and finally Dionte Johnson fell down instead of catching his target and that’s how we won the 2 seed.
FFPC $5,000 Big Payback Teams
Leone HS1 (2-10) 12th Place 1331.90 pts
This team lost in Week 12 and had no shot to make its playoffs. These teams are in a completely different type of contest, which is a self contained league and not a huge tournament. The regular season extends through Week 14 here and the top 6 teams advance to the playoffs competing with each other for prizes.
Leone HS2 (6-6) 8th Place 1576.20 pts
Now this high stakes team had a big win in Week 12 and is actually showing some signs of life in which it still has a realistic shot to sneak into the playoffs if it can have a very strong next couple of weeks. The good news here is that most of our major bye week players happened in Week 12 and not Week 14 in this one.
Week 13 Waiver Priorities for FFPC
Below are all the players I like for Week 13 for FFPC leagues. I break down all players into tiers with FAAB suggestions.
This article is also intended to provide value for those of you who play in deeper league formats and dynasty leagues.
